Mercedes-Benz U.S. International CEO bids farewell

Markus Schaefer taking new position with Mercedes in Germany

Outgoing MBUSI President Markus Schaefer, right, presents incoming president and CEO Jason Hoff with a steering wheel as a sign that he is handing over control at the Mercedes plant in Vance, Ala. Thursday, June 27, 2013. A ceremony was held in which Mercedes-Benz U.S. International President Markus Schaefer and his successor Jason Hoff marked the change in leadership.

Dusty Compton | The Tuscaloosa News

By Patrick RupinskiBusiness Editor

Published: Thursday, June 27, 2013 at 4:56 p.m.

Last Modified: Thursday, June 27, 2013 at 4:56 p.m.

Mercedes-Benz U.S. International in Vance marked a change in leadership Thursday as Markus Schaefer, the auto assembly plant's president and CEO for the past three years bid farewell to the employees — or, as he likes to say, his team members.

Outgoing MBUSI President Markus Schaefer, right, presents incoming president and CEO Jason Hoff with a steering wheel as a sign that he is handing over control at the Mercedes plant in Vance, Ala. Thursday, June 27, 2013. A ceremony was held in which Mercedes-Benz U.S. International President Markus Schaefer and his successor Jason Hoff marked the change in leadership.

Dusty Compton | The Tuscaloosa News

Schaefer, 48, is returning to his native Germany and a new executive assignment with Mercedes, effective Monday That's the day when his successor, Jason Hoff, officially becomes president and CEO at MBUSI.

The sprawling and expanded Vance operation that Schaefer leaves is in many ways much different from the one he came to in spring 2010.

When he arrived, the global auto industry was coming off one of its worst years. General Motors and Chrysler had been taken over by the federal government in a taxpayer bailout that prevented their complete bankruptcy. Worldwide auto sales had collapsed and demand for luxury vehicles had dried up.

MBUSI, like auto plants elsewhere, had cut production and dramatically reduced staff as demand for its vehicles hit a nadir. There even were some fears in Tuscaloosa County that the Mercedes plant and its host of nearby automotive parts suppliers might not survive the Great Recession.

“I arrived here at the end of the crisis of 2009,” Schaefer said Wednesday during an interview. “It was a tough time.

“In the last three years, we were able to turn things around.”

In each of the three years, MBUSI production increased — something Schaefer attributed to his team members.

“I have never seen people who are so passionate and with such a can-do attitude,” he said. “I think the thing I will miss the most are the team members I will leave behind.”

And he told MBUSI workers Thursday that the plant is on track to set a new production record this year, producing perhaps close to 190,000 vehicles.

Before coming to Tuscaloosa, Schaefer had worked at Mercedes headquarters on a plan that called for making cars closer to the markets where they are sold.

Part of that plan called for moving C-Class sedan production to Tuscaloosa County. The C-Class are the most popular Mercedes sold in the United States, but the vehicles now are imported from Germany. Later this year, MBUSI will begin making a new generation of C-Class sedans in Vance for sale in the North American market. That production will be added to M-Class, GL-Class and R-Class vehicles already made there.

The C-Class production will be in full swing in 2014 and in 2015, Mercedes has announced plans to add a fifth model — a totally new SUV-like vehicle to MBUSI production.

Mercedes has made a $2.4 billion investment to expand production at Vance and support facilities.

When Mercedes announced 20 years ago that it would build its first American auto plant in Tuscaloosa County, many doubted that a German-quality product could be made in the Deep South. Now in Germany, there is a five- to six-month waiting time to receive a MBUSI-made GL-Class, he said.

Germans are willing to pay $100,000 to $150,000 in U.S. dollars and wait six months to get a GL-Class, he said of the demand for the American-made Mercedes.

In his parting comments, Schaefer said that in the United States, Mercedes-Benz is the top seller of luxury vehicles, beating out BMW and Lexus. But worldwide it trails those two competitors.

He said that while Mercedes-Benz is making huge investments in new plants globally, it trails its competitors on the return from sales. Mercedes' worldwide return on sales is 3.3 percent, compared with 9.9 percent for BMW and 11.1 percent for Lexus.

“As a company, we have to increase our efficiency,” he said. “Here (at MBUSI), we have a high level of efficiency.”

Making Mercedes plants elsewhere more efficient will be part of his new job at Mercedes headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany, where he will head worldwide production planning for all Mercedes-Benz passenger cars.

Although he is leaving Tuscaloosa, Schaefer said there are some things acquired here that he is taking with him — a quarterhorse he bought, a stray street dog his family adopted and, of course, his second son who was born at a Tuscaloosa hospital.

He and his wife have two sons, the oldest of which was born in Egypt when Schaefer was working with a Mercedes plant there.

And he said in addition to friendships, there are some other things he hates to leave behind — good steaks, barbecue and Crimson Tide football.

“Leaving this place is to some extent bittersweet, but I know I am leaving it in good hands and feel we accomplished some great things as a team,” he said during the interview.

Hoff was introduced to the MBUSI employees Thursday. He told them he and his family were happy to be returning to Tuscaloosa, where he started working for Mercedes 20 years ago when he was “fresh out of college.” At that time, the first part of the MBUSI plant had not been built and the initial team members worked out of trailers.

For the past two years, he has worked in Germany and he said he gained a good perspective on how the Mercedes executives view MBUSI.

“I got to see MBUSI from afar,” he said. “One of the great things from those meetings in Germany is how positive they are about what we are doing in Tuscaloosa.”

Hoff said later this year the first C-Class will roll off the assembly line in Vance and about 12 months later, the fifth still unnamed vehicle will be in production.

“We have some big challenges ahead of us during the next two years,” Hoff said. “They are challenges that can make or break us but we are ready for the challenges with the team he have.”

Gov. Robert Bentley also spoke during the event, saying the recruitment of Airbus to Mobile last year would not have occurred without the success of Mercedes. He told the workers their hard work and quality production paved the way to recruit other industries to the state.

University of Alabama head football coach Nick Saban made a surprise visit and told the workers that they, like a championship football team, cannot become complacent and rest on their laurels if they want to remain on top.

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